A prominent board member at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) has been selling company stock.
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The investment firm run by Berkshire Hathaway board member Chris Davis sold nearly 30% of its stake in the holding company during this year’s second quarter, right around the time that Warren Buffett announced that he will step down as CEO at the end of 2025, ending his 60-year tenure at the helm.
Davis Selected Advisers, which runs the Davis New York Venture Fund, reduced its stake in Berkshire Hathaway to 1,434 class A share equivalents (with class B shares converted to an equivalent amount of class A stock) on June 30 from more than 2,000 shares on March 31, according to regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Stock Slump
Berkshire Hathaway remains Davis Selected Advisers’ third-largest holding by dollar value at about $1 billion, behind Capital One Financial (COF) and Meta Platforms (META). The firm has about $22 billion in total equity investments currently. Berkshire Hathaway still represents about 5% of the fund’s holdings.
Chris Davis, who claims to be a value investor, is the chairman and portfolio manager of Davis Selected Advisors. Berkshire stock was strong during the early part of Q2 this year, rising to a record high on May 2, the day before the company’s annual meeting when Buffett announced he would step down as CEO but remain chair of the board.
BRK.B stock has since fallen nearly 15% as investors weigh Berkshire Hathaway’s prospects with Buffett, a legendary investor, no longer calling the shots. Davis, age 59, personally owns 36 class A shares worth about $25 million and class B shares worth another $1 million, according to Berkshire Hathaway’s proxy statements. Davis has not sold any of his personal shares.
Is BRK.B Stock a Buy?
Only one analyst currently offers a rating and price target on Berkshire Hathaway’s more affordable class B stock. So instead, we’ll look at the stock’s three-month performance. As one can see in the chart below, shares of BRK.B have declined 10% in the last 12 weeks.
